Optimist Park

All the females in my house get cranky right around the third week of the month, even the littlest one. A wise man would just throw chocolate and back away slowly. My husband, who has occasional flashes of wisdom, came home last night with new dishware and money for my sagging bank account, so he's in the safe zone, for now. Anyway, he may be safe but I am fair game to the children, and they've been in rare form.

We desperately needed a play date, when Courtney called me up to ask if we'd like to meet at a park. Then it came to me, a name I'd seen floating around the Metro Parks website: Optimist Park. "This is it!" I thought, this must be the answer to today's cranky. So into the car we piled and drove out nearly to the end of 17th (which is the end of Westgate, which is the end of N 21st), took a right on North James and there were were.

Sadly, the Sawyer Tot Lot was so offended by my slander that it seems to have eaten my camera, so I have no pictures of this lovely little park. "Optimist Park" fits this place well. It's got a great little playground with just enough for big and little kids alike, lots of swings, and a big green area surrounded by hills, so that the kids can run around in the bottom of the bowl and it takes a few minutes for anyone to climb out.

The playground only occupied them for a little while, then all four kids, ages 2, 4, 5, and 7 decided to roll down the hills. They tried several sides of the bowl and decided that the best place to roll was right by the street, but fortunately cars only came by every ten minutes or so. Although it's somewhat tucked away in a residential area, with all the surrounding green space and great visibility, this park doesn't give a parent the creepies the way that Sawyer does. 11 kids, 4 parents, and a Springer Spaniel used the park while we there, and everyone seemed to be having a great time.

On an almost-Spring day like today, little white flowers dot the grass all the way around the bowl, enough to fascinate a toddler for hours. For bigger kids, there's also a baseball diamond and a basketball court. The bathrooms are locked for the season.

Optimist Park
N 13th at N James St
Tacoma